TheHunter: Call of the Wild Review (seanmiller)
Caveats: Ive played for about 5 hours now on one reserve with no DLC.
So, I dont exactly know why I bought this game initially. I was bored with Tarkov, Star Citizen, Bannerlord, Rimworld, Civ5/6...basically everything that Ive dumped time into in the last year or so. I got so sick of super action packed games that I just...wanted a break. Gaming was starting to get stressful.
Enter theHunter Call of the Wild (COTW for short). I threw it on my wishlist a while ago because it got a lot of "oooh, pretty" comments. In my boredom while doom-scrolling the store up pops COTW.
I think to myself, self...why not?
After about 30 minutes of tromping thru the woods I realized I loved this game. Goddamn is it ever cozy feeling. Not getting shot at, no real loss if you mess up, everything in the game just kinda works. Then again, theres also excitement if you choose to seek it. Having a pack of boars jump out of a treeline next to you and bolt across the field as you knock two down with you shotgun is exhilirating. Finally catching that trophy-grade deer with a massive set of antlers when you can ACTUALLY make the shot on him is tense...cause you know your only getting one shot.
But outside those moments its simply a walking simulator with absolutely drop-dead gorgeous scenery, fairly realistic forest sounds, and calming music.
Mechanically the game seems well put together. Animal tracking and luring works relatively well provided you use the right lures and manage your noise level. The whole rest/eat/drink cycle for animals helps with being able to predict where you can actually find them when you need to. The missions all seem simple enough so far too and basically are there to teach gameplay mechanics (ok, im not THAT far on them. Hey...5 hours in, right?).
So overall, I was really happy with my purchase. For $20 its good gameplay value (I consider <$1/hr good value. <$0.10/hr is amazing value). In fact, Im already considering what DLC Ill get.
Which brings us to probably the most divisive part of the game: its monetization model. Hooo boy.
The basic model is very similar to "freemium" multiplayer games where the base game is a low entry point/free experience and the DLC is where they make their money. Most of the time these practices are extremely predatory where the DLC in total is $1000+ (looking at you, Truck/Train/Farm Sim games). In contrast, COTW's complete DLC is just over $100 at sticker price and quite a bit less than that when on sale (which it is at the time of this review...missed 80% off on the base game by a day, damnit).
For a primarily single-player experience, COTW's model is 100% acceptable in my book. Its ala-carte gaming. Pay for the parts you want, ignore the parts you dont. IMO its a much healthier model than the annual full-release cycle many sports games and major franchise shooter games (Battlefield/COD) use. I can choose whats important to me and only purchase those parts. That to me is a great approach, espeically when the game and its DLC go on sale relatively frequently.
So I get it. The ATV and tents should be in the base game. The devs seem to be nickle and diming people with new gun packs. Etc. Etc. The base game still works, its still a good value at its list price, and you can choose what DLC is important to you and pick/choose what you want. Would you rather the devs put it all in the base game and charge $60 up front?
Right now you can get the base game an the majority of the DLC in a bundle for like $30. Thats a screaming deal. As for me, Ill have to settle for a smattering of DLC to still stay around that $30 point, which Im ultimately ok with.